Learning Paths

Leadership is often discussed as a set of heroic traits, but in practice, it is a relationship between people, situations, and goals. This module moves beyond the ‘great man’ theory to explore leadership as a shared and distributed practice.

In this session you will:

• Move towards a practical definition of leadership.
• Understand the situational factors that inhibit or support leadership.
• Explore the concept of shared and distributed leadership within your organization.

By Jonathan Gosling

Having a high IQ is important for managers but so is having a high EQ. Emotional intelligence is a convenient label for a range of interpersonal skills. Our ability to manage emotions — both our own and those of others — can play a critical role in determining our happiness and success at work.

In this session you will:

• Reflect on how well you know yourself.
• Consider how you relate to others at work.
• Determine how you can support others in increasing their emotional intelligence.

By David Creelman

Effective teams do not suddenly emerge on their own. They require careful and consistent nurturing. One of the critical barriers is the conflict that naturally arises when individuals are asked to work together. This topic helps you manage such conflict with confidence and skill.

In this session you will:

• Learn to expect conflict in a team and value it as a rich resource for creativity.
• Reflect on your own conflict management style and its impact on your teams.
• Explore skills for successful conflict management and discuss how to apply them.

By Marilyn Laiken

Organizations often suffer from a ‘silence problem’ — the things that need to be said aren’t being said. Candor is not about being blunt or rude; it is about being honest in a way that is helpful and moves the work forward.

In this session you will:

• Understand the cost of silence in your organization.
• Practice techniques for delivering honest feedback constructively.
• Explore how to create an environment where candor is expected and rewarded.

By David Creelman

Accountability is one of the most common words in business, but one of the most misunderstood. Often used as a code word for ‘finding someone to blame,’ accountability is also a powerful force for getting things done.

In this session you will:

• Learn what accountability really means in a high-performance culture.
• Identify the common traps of blame-based accountability.
• Discuss how to foster mutual accountability within your team.

By David Creelman

Are you someone who can influence others to get the necessary results? Your reports assess you every day and their engagement depends on their perception of you. This module focuses on how you use yourself as an instrument to get things done.

In this session you will:

• Reflect on how you relate to others as their boss.
• Explore some classic managerial pitfalls in regard to influencing others.
• Determine how you can strengthen your influence by working on your competence and character.

By Linda Hill and Kent Lineback

Effective teams do not suddenly emerge on their own. They require careful and consistent nurturing. One of the critical barriers is the conflict that naturally arises when individuals are asked to work together. This topic helps you manage such conflict with confidence and skill.

In this session you will:

• Learn to expect conflict in a team and value it as a rich resource for creativity.
• Reflect on your own conflict management style and its impact on your teams.
• Explore skills for successful conflict management and discuss how to apply them.

By Marilyn Laiken

Delegation is one of the most essential managerial skills, yet many managers struggle with it. They either over-manage (micromanage) or under-manage (dump and run). Effective delegation is about ‘entrusting’ others with responsibility while maintaining alignment.

In this session you will:

• Identify your personal barriers to delegating effectively.
• Learn the three common reasons for delegation failure.
• Practice the steps for effective entrustment and follow-up.

By David Creelman

Accountability is one of the most common words in business, but one of the most misunderstood. Often used as a code word for ‘finding someone to blame,’ accountability is also a powerful force for getting things done.

In this session you will:

• Learn what accountability really means in a high-performance culture.
• Identify the common traps of blame-based accountability.
• Discuss how to foster mutual accountability within your team.

By David Creelman

What makes some teams consistently outperform others? It’s not just about having the ‘best’ people; it’s about the social and structural conditions that allow those people to work together.

In this session you will:

• Understand the ‘Social View’ of team performance.
• Identify the indicators of a team in ‘flow.’
• Create a plan for improving team coordination and results.

By CoachingOurselves Team

Providing feedback has long been considered essential for managers. But there is a fundamental problem: it focuses on the past, on what has already occurred — not on the infinite variety of opportunities that can happen in the future.

In this session you will:

• Define and demonstrate feedFORWARD.
• Explain why feedFORWARD is more effective than feedback.
• Practice forward-looking conversations that drive growth.

By Marshall Goldsmith and Terence Traut

Sometimes we think too much about our decisions. Perhaps we would do better to see them more insightfully. Or just act on them in order to think about them better. This session contrasts ‘thinking first’ with ‘seeing first’ and ‘doing first.’

In this session you will:

• Get beyond thinking in decision making, to seeing, and doing.
• Appreciate that we have to act in order to think, as much as think in order to act.
• Approach some key decisions differently.

By Henry Mintzberg

Management is not a science to be taught but a practice to be learned. It is a mix of Art (vision), Craft (experience), and Science (analysis). Most managers lean toward one style. This module helps you understand your own balance.

In this session you will:

• Diagnose your own preferred management style.
• Explore the benefits and risks of over-relying on Art, Craft, or Science.
• Discuss how to adapt your style to different situations.

By Henry Mintzberg

Many managers think they are coaching when they are actually just giving advice. True coaching starts with listening. This module helps you move from being a ‘problem solver’ to a ‘facilitator of thinking.’

In this session you will:

• Understand the shift from ‘directing’ to ‘coaching.’
• Practice the discipline of curiosity over solutioning.
• Learn key questions that empower others to find their own solutions.

By Jonathan Gosling

High-performing teams don’t happen by accident; they are nurtured through stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. This module highlights the active role a leader must play in each stage.

In this session you will:

• Analyze your own team(s) using the Four Stages of Development model.
• Understand the specific leader behaviors required to move a team to ‘Performing.’
• Learn how to ‘buffer the boundaries’ to protect your team’s focus and resources.

By Marilyn Laiken

Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. It is the bedrock of effective teamwork and innovation.

In this session you will:

• Define psychological safety and its critical role in team performance.
• Identify the ‘reasons to keep quiet’ that are currently operating in your unit.
• Commit to specific actions that promote a more candid and safe work environment.

By Kara Johnston

The true key to an agile organization is the ability to manage paradoxes — the inescapable tensions of organizational life: Action vs. Reflection, Freedom vs. Structure, Confrontation vs. Collaboration.

In this session you will:

• Identify the specific organizational paradoxes impacting your work.
• Understand the difference between a ‘problem to solve’ and a ‘paradox to manage.’
• Develop strategies for maintaining balance across competing organizational values.

By Marilyn Laiken

KPIs and OKRs are essential for alignment and measurement, yet they can never capture the full complexity of human work. When we measure the wrong things, we drive the wrong behaviors.

In this session you will:

• Understand why KPIs and OKRs are both essential and impossible.
• Reflect on the ‘soft underbelly’ of hard data.
• Discuss how to use simple, meaningful measures to drive performance in your team.

By David Creelman

Strategic thinking is often confused with strategic planning. While planning is analytical, thinking is creative. It is about ‘seeing’ patterns, opportunities, and possibilities that aren’t immediately obvious.

In this session you will:

• Distinguish between strategic thinking and traditional planning.
• Practice the five mindsets: Seeing Ahead, Seeing Behind, Seeing Above, Seeing Below, and Seeing Beside.
• Develop your ability to ‘see’ strategy as it emerges in your daily work.

By Henry Mintzberg

In a complex world, the ‘heroic’ leader who has all the answers is a myth. Leading with humility is about recognizing that you don’t know everything and being willing to learn from others at all levels of the organization.

In this session you will:

• Understand the difference between ‘heroic’ leadership and humble leadership.
• Explore the concept of ‘personizing’ work relationships.
• Practice techniques for humble inquiry and active listening.

By Edgar H. Schein

The traditional organizational chart is only one way to look at structure. In reality, organizations operate as chains, hubs, webs, and sets. Understanding these models helps you manage more effectively within the complex reality of modern work.

In this session you will:

• Move beyond the ‘top-down’ view of the organization.
• Explore the four structural forms and how they apply to your unit.
• Discuss how to lead effectively when you are in a web or a hub rather than a chain.

By Henry Mintzberg

Organizations do not exist in a vacuum; they are embedded in a web of relationships with stakeholders who can significantly impact their success. This module moves beyond a simple list of ‘interested parties’ to a strategic map of influence.

In this session you will:

• Create a strategic stakeholder map for your current project or unit.
• Analyze the level of alignment between your organization and key stakeholders.
• Identify actions to improve engagement and collaboration with external and internal partners.

By Dr. Pamela Sloan

People who are engaged with their organizations talk about how alive they feel, how creative and emboldened. They talk about how much they’ve grown through their work. During this session we explore the key dynamics underlying this kind of engagement.

In this session you will:

• Reflect on six of the most powerful practices within engaging organizations.
• Explore what is possible within your own organization.
• Look at what you can do personally to contribute to engagement.

By Warren Nilsson and Tana Paddock

The key leadership challenge of our times is to cultivate creativity, innovation, and leadership capacity at all levels. This module challenges you to dive into the ‘soil’ of your organization to see and sense behavioral patterns within the social field.

In this session you will:

• Understand organizations from a social field perspective.
• Gain insight into the deeper qualities of the social field of your organization.
• Reflect on your own role shaping the social field.

By Otto Scharmer and Eva Pomeroy